David Albert

So, here's the news. The education establishment has managed to produce
yet another test -- the third time running -- which shows their own
illiteracy -- the "Third International Math and Science Study". (I
detailed how they did this similarly on the tenth grade one in my book.)
TIMSSonly had the most highly paid experts from virtually every major
university in the United States working on it and reviewing the
questions, and to prove their own illiteracy, they used the following
question in the samples for all the world to see:

4. Math/Geometry

In a quadrilateral, each of the two angles has a measure of 115
degrees. If the
measure of a third angle is 70 degrees, what is the measure of the
remaining angle?

(A) 60 degrees

(B) 70 degrees

(C) 130 degrees

(D) 140 degrees

(E) None of the above

What's wrong with this question, folks? How many 8th graders read the
first sentence and were informed clearly, as part of the question, that
a quadrilateral has only two angles? ("each of the two angles"). And so
that third angle has nothing to do with the quadrilateral?

And so how many put "E" as an answer"? Is it any wonder that only 19%
of U.S. students answered it correctly, but 40% of international
students (who probably had the question translated properly) got it
right? But what is totally amazing, is our 'education experts' chose
this question as the one they want all the world to see!

Put three questions like that on an 80-question test, and all the
results are invalidated. They've already given us one....

David

P.S. How many of you would rather live in Slovenia, where 8th graders
do rather better on a test like this?


--
I will be speaking in Florida in January. To check out my speaking
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with Me", or find ordering information, visit my website --
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Laura Simeon

> And so how many put "E" as an answer"? Is it any wonder that only 19%
> of U.S. students answered it correctly, but 40% of international
> students (who probably had the question translated properly) got it
> right? But what is totally amazing, is our 'education experts' chose
> this question as the one they want all the world to see!
>
> Put three questions like that on an 80-question test, and all the
> results are invalidated. They've already given us one....
>
> David

That is really an appalling example!

> P.S. How many of you would rather live in Slovenia, where 8th graders
> do rather better on a test like this?

Actually, I hear Ljubljana is lovely. It's been relatively peaceful in
Slovenia in the last decade or so, lots of skiing, spas, tourists, cultural
festivals...

Anyway, I'm not sure I understood the intention behind this question. I
might be reading too much into it, but I think most people prefer to live in
the culture of their upbringing because that is where they are most
comfortable, not because there is something inherently superior about that
particular place. (After all, familiar injustices are harder to see, and
easier to tolerate, than unfamiliar ones). There are probably few or no
Slovenes on this list, so naturally hardly anyone will say they'd rather
live in Slovenia. But I think this says more about the make-up of this list
than about the quality of life in Slovenia or the relative value of
Slovenian culture. If you were referring to the atrocities in Yugoslavia in
recent times, exceptional circumstances can bring people to decide that
emigrating seems like a better option than staying where they are. However,
the amount of gut-wrenching pain involved in uprooting yourself and your
children in this way cannot be underestimated. I know a number of Serbs,
Croats and Bosnian Muslims who have fled abroad. Their hearts ache for their
homelands, and I know where they would rather be living.

On a semi-tangent, after regular public school turned out to be disastrous
for my sister, she spent some time unschooling, and then went to live in
Skopje, FYRO Macedonia as a Rotary International exchange student during the
equivalent of 11th grade. The number one question she got when she told
people (she was in the US at the time) where she was going was "WHY?!" No,
actually that was the number two question, after "WHERE?!" She fell in love
with Macedonia in particular and the Balkans in general to the point where
she's now doing an undergrad degree in Serbo-Croatian (the University of
London doesn't have a Macedonian program, but the languages are similar). So
now she again faces the question "WHY?!" along with "What are you going to
do with that?", which both she and I object to on many levels. I'm not
surprised at all that she has chosen this path. The Balkans are easy to fall
in love with.

Laura
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Laura Simeon
mailto:thisbe@...
http://www.kjsl.com/~thisbe/

David Albert

Laura Simeon wrote:

> >
> > Put three questions like that on an 80-question test, and all the
> > results are invalidated. They've already given us one....
> >
> > David
>
> That is really an appalling example!
>
> > P.S. How many of you would rather live in Slovenia, where 8th graders
> > do rather better on a test like this?
>
> Actually, I hear Ljubljana is lovely. It's been relatively peaceful in
> Slovenia in the last decade or so, lots of skiing, spas, tourists, cultural
> festivals...
>
> Anyway, I'm not sure I understood the intention behind this question.

No, my intention was rather more simple. Would you ever assume the quality of
living in a place (the strength of its people's character, or event the
productivity of its economy) could even be remotely related to a test like this?

David (who loves Slovenia! and some of whose ancestors came from Herzogovina)

Julie

David
Thanks for clarifying. My immediate response when I read this was to reply
"Who cares how well they do on a test?" but being new I didn't know how it
would be taken. Probably an reaction to which I have been conditioned by
years of schooling and a mother who repeated often "It's better to keep your
mouth closed and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and be proven
one." :-(

Peace Julie
>
> No, my intention was rather more simple. Would you ever assume the
quality of
> living in a place (the strength of its people's character, or event the
> productivity of its economy) could even be remotely related to a test like
this?
>
> David (who loves Slovenia! and some of whose ancestors came from
Herzogovina)
>
>
>

Laura Simeon

Thanks for clarifying! I'm glad I asked. And the answer to your question is
no, absolutely not. All these tests tell us is how good a certain group of
people are at taking these tests.

I'm glad to hear you love Slovenia. I spent a wonderful summer in Zagreb
years ago, but haven't made it to Slovenia... yet.

Laura
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Laura Simeon
mailto:thisbe@...
http://www.kjsl.com/~thisbe/


> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Albert [mailto:shantinik@...]
> Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2000 9:35 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: [Unschooling-dotcom] Re: [TAGMAX] 3rd International
> whatever
>
>
>
>
> Laura Simeon wrote:
>
> > >
> > > Put three questions like that on an 80-question test, and all the
> > > results are invalidated. They've already given us one....
> > >
> > > David
> >
> > That is really an appalling example!
> >
> > > P.S. How many of you would rather live in Slovenia, where 8th graders
> > > do rather better on a test like this?
> >
> > Actually, I hear Ljubljana is lovely. It's been relatively peaceful in
> > Slovenia in the last decade or so, lots of skiing, spas,
> tourists, cultural
> > festivals...
> >
> > Anyway, I'm not sure I understood the intention behind this question.
>
> No, my intention was rather more simple. Would you ever assume
> the quality of
> living in a place (the strength of its people's character, or event the
> productivity of its economy) could even be remotely related to a
> test like this?
>
> David (who loves Slovenia! and some of whose ancestors came from
> Herzogovina)
>
>
>
>
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